Featured Athletes
December 2021
Jen Metz
“What’s next?” That is the question that I asked myself after completing the “Dopey Challenge” in 2016. For those who don’t know what the “Dopey Challenge” is, it is a four-day running event at the “Most Magical Place on Earth,” Disneyland, consisting of a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon on four consecutive days. You would have to be a little dopey to complete that rigorous running schedule! With morning wake-up times at 2:30am to catch the shuttle for a 5:30am race start, to taking pictures with Disney characters along the race course, and to spending the rest of the day walking Disney’s parks, this event was at the top on my running bucket list for a while. After a big race, like Dopey, it is not uncommon to become thoughtful and philosophical about what to do next and that is where I found myself after this race. I really did feel that nothing could top completing the Dopey Challenge and I didn’t know what could be next.
On a recommendation from a spin instructor at my gym, I read Christy Wellington’s book, “A Life Without Limits.” After reading her book, I knew that the sport of Triathlon was going to be my next challenge and what better way to start, then to dive headfirst into a Half Ironman. I decided on a whim to sign up for Timberman 70.3. At the beginning of my training, I thought that all I had to do for training was swim a little, bike a little, and run a little, and that I could manage that on my own, but it became clear very early in my training that I needed a little help. I got a coach and found my way to the Rye Tri Club. Going to the bikes and swims, I found a group of liked minded athletes who, unbeknownst to me at the time, were also training for Timberman 70.3. The support during the training and during the race was something that I will always remember! Another year past and I found myself signing up for Lake Placid 70.3 with the Rye Tri Club.
Then in the summer of 2019, I sustained a back injury, derailing any plans for summer races that year. The injury grew progressively worse to where on August 24, 2020, I had back surgery. As soon as I got the green light from my surgeon to start, I built up my leg strength, core strength and endurance and found myself in the early summer of 2021 thinking that doing a 70.3 less than a year out from having back surgery would be a realistic goal for me to have. I had the miles and the training under my belt and decided to go for it. It was quite fitting that the 70.3 that I chose to do was Timberman 70.3. Ironman had brought back Timberman after a hiatus and the fact that the race date was just under a year from my surgery, August 22, 2021, I thought that it a sign for me to do the race. There was a group of members from Rye Tri that was also doing the race and I thought that it would be great to join them! The terrain of the Timberman bike course really challenged me with tough headwinds, slick roads from the rain, and the CLIMBING! They say that your nutrition can really make or break you on race day… IT’S NOT A LIE FOLKS! It almost broke me, but I was able to cross the finish line and that is ALL I WANTED TO DO! And I can’t wait to train for another one… BRING IT ON!
October 2021
Sally Loftin
Sally Loftin is an accountant specializing in the architecture and engineering field.
I live in Yonkers with my dog Chips and I have a daughter, Cassandra, who became a registered nurse in 2020. I am an avid dog lover, I enjoy spending time with friends and also enjoy time at home, curled up with a good book or watching Netflix. I love to travel and to give back to the community. I have participated in Habitat for Humanity and the experience was amazing. Due to Covid, many things are on hold but, little by little, things are getting back to normal, and I can’t wait to get out and help again.
In 2016, I joined a running group where I met some amazing women who inspired me to do more. The Mermaids (Ana Sostre, Maria Torres, Aisha Torrence and Omaira Sanchez) and I learned how to swim together by taking lessons at Van Cortland Park with Coach Ismael. We then joined the Rye Tri Club as we wanted to expand into open water and then we started taking endurance swim lessons at Rye YMCA with Coach John Grieco. The Shark (Marsha Milan-Bethel) was already a great swimmer but we both needed work with our running. We joined the Galloway club and have done countless races together using the Galloway method.
I rekindled my love of biking and swimming, something I had always enjoyed as a kid. I became an official member of the Rye Tri Club in 2018, joining Louise on Tuesdays for bike rides and Cathy on Thursdays for open water swimming. I became a triathlete in August 2018 after completing the Jersey Girl Tri.
Me, a triathlete? Not something I ever imagined possible! I would have laughed in your face and called you crazy, but here I am.
After my first triathlon, I fell in love with the sport as it wasn’t such a strain on my body as simply running. Due to back and knee injuries, I can't run but I am a super-fast walker who has completed several 5ks, 10ks, 3 half marathons and 4 sprint triathlons since 2016.
I had so many plans for 2020: upgrade my bike, Olympic distance tri, Rock & Roll half marathon in New Orleans and Ragnar, but Covid happened, and the world came to a full stop. At first, I kept up my training as we could still go outdoors but, over time, I let it all go. I lost my job, and my motivation went right along with it. I started doing yoga and it helped me get back into the swing of things. Once things started to open up again in 2021, I went back to biking on Tuesdays with Louise and Al.
All my races have been moved to 2022 and I am hoping they go through as I miss the thrill and excitement of races.
I can’t thank Rye Tri Club enough for their support, it has been a wonderful experience learning from so many amazing people. Everyone that I’ve met has been helpful, supportive and continue to push me to be better than yesterday. I was excited to join the board as treasurer, as this was my way of giving back to the group that helped me become a triathlete and so far, it has been a wonderful experience.
September 2021
Susan Klein
Years ago, I was asked by a friend to help her with her swim in preparation for a triathlon. (I was a swim instructor at the time.) Of course, I said yes. What my friend failed to tell me was that she barely knew how to swim. After a few lessons I decided that if my friend was going to attempt this, there was no reason why I couldn’t finish one myself. I could definitely complete the swim and bike portions. The run would be my challenge. My first sprint went pretty well considering I didn’t really know what I was getting into, and I was doing it on a hybrid bicycle. It was a lot of fun. My friend never did another triathlon.
Since that time, I have completed numerous sprints and olympic distance triathlons and one 70.3. Swimming is my strongest discipline. My longest swim race has been a 10k where I finished both first and last in my age group. I have also completed some shorter races including some 5k. Even though I have always found the run to be very difficult, I have still managed to complete a few 5k, 10k and half marathons.
I joined Rye Tri about three years ago and have enjoyed helping out with the Thursday swims and Tuesday night rides. Best of all was meeting some wonderful people and athletes.
What I am most excited about is The Lighthouse Swim happening on September 12, 2021. Last year, a couple of friends and I decided that we would like to organize a swim to benefit Feeding Westchester. The swim will start at the Philipse Manor Beach Club in Sleepy Hollow and finish at Horan’s Landing in the beautiful Hudson River (and there are no sea lice or jellyfish). I hope you will join me there. For this year, we are limiting the swim to 50 people. For more information, please contact me at lighthouseswim@gmail.com. The cost is $50.
July 2021
Polly Wright
I did my first triathlon way back in 1983. Up that point I had been just a runner. (Those who know me, probably would be surprised by that statement since running and I aren’t the best of friends these days.) I ran my last marathon that same year. Coincidence? Yes and no. My first triathlon was a short one. ½ mile swim, 7 mile bike, 2 mile run. I have no idea how I placed. I don’t think they even had age group awards, but I just loved the thrill of doing 3 sports one after another like that. Marathons? In that last marathon I finally broke 4:30 and felt like hell for weeks afterwards and decided I was done with marathons. I did continue to run distances up to ½ marathon, but triathlon was becoming my new love.
I haven’t done triathlon non-stop since 1983. Injuries and life created breaks along the way. When I’ve had those breaks, I often wondered whether I’d do another triathlon again. I usually surprised myself with an unexpected result. Case in point was I didn’t race from 1999 through 2001. I had injuries, death of my mom and a massive weight gain that had me tipping the scales at 167 after my mom’s funeral. I lost the weight and started riding again. A friend of mine cajoled me into doing West Point Triathlon in 2002. I surprised myself with a 3rd place finish in my age group. I found one more race to do that season where I finished 4th woman overall and 1st in my age group.
That started me on my 2nd triathlon journey, first doing St. Anthony’s Triathlon with Team in Training. That’s where I met Phil Gormley and Ray Kelly. I hadn’t done Olympic Distance since the 90s. Again, I surprised myself beating my PR for that distance. Knowing I was aging up that got me excited about going to Age Group Nationals and qualifying for Team USA. It was exciting to travel to Madeira, Portugal in 2004 and Honolulu in 2005. In 2005 I did 9 triathlons, 1 ½ half-iron aquabike, and 2 bike races. I was kind of burned out at that point.
2006 began poorly and just as I got myself back into shape, I crashed on my bike, and I broke 3 ribs. My father died suddenly a week later. Once again triathlon took a back seat. I got back involved with Team in Training and did some walking events with them. I’d pretty much written off triathlon and concentrated on biking. I did America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride (AMBBR) in 2013. The name says it all. Spectacular ride around Lake Tahoe.
I was planning on doing AMBBR again in 2014. I’d sent out my fundraising letters, and then found out I wasn’t going to be able to do it. Team in Training was doing Sleepy Hollow Triathlon as their local fund-raising event, so I switched to that. I had not run since 2006, so I wasn’t sure how this was going to work. I turned 60 that year and had my doubts on whether this old gal could make another triathlon comeback. I used the C25K app and just pretended I was a brand-new runner. By the time Sleepy Hollow rolled around, I had successfully completed the program. The laid-back version of Polly wasn’t worried about age group awards, but the inner competitor was wondering “Does she still have it?” The answer was yes.
After that the flame was relit, and I also found aquabike being contested on the national and international level. This led to trips to Nationals and World Championships. I competed in Penticton, BC, (Most beautiful race venue I’ve ever raced), Fyn, Denmark and Pontevedra, Spain. I also gave 70.3 a try at Lake Placid. I had a great swim and bike and then I had to run. I swore I’d never do another one, but 2 years later I joined the Rye Tri Club crew doing Lake George. A lot went wrong that race and it was even worse than Lake Placid. I was extremely grateful to all my Rye Tri peeps who stuck around and cheered for me as one of the very last finishers. The run was multiple loops and without the RTC crew cheering me on, I might have cashed it in before the end.
Then came 2020. World Championships, Nationals and local events were all wiped out by COVID. However, 2020 was not a total loss. The other big event on my schedule was testing for my 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and earning the title of Master. That got delayed until the fall. However not having triathlon training to worry about allowed me to put my energy and focus into preparing for the rigorous 2 days of testing. With our Tae Kwon Do school closed for many months, Zoom became my friend. I trained with the school masters and with other students for many months. Tae Kwon Do and triathlon complement each other very nicely. TKD started out as an off-season activity, but then took on a life of its own. The balance, coordination and concentration needed for TDK helps a lot with all three of the triathlon disciplines. Body awareness in Tae Know Do carries over triathlon particularly in swimming and running. Everything comes from the core. Having strong abs, glutes and hips are very important both triathlon and Tae Kwon Do.
So now 2021 starts with Sunday’s Sleepy Hollow Triathlon. Once again, my running is lagging, but I’m just grateful to have races to go to again. My two world championship events got canceled again. There are some possibilities that they’ll be rescheduled, but I’d be happy if they just moved on to 2022. Once again after swearing off the 70.3 distance after Lake George in 2019, I have found myself signing up for Timberman 70.3. It must be an odd numbered year thing for me.
Final observations from all these years in triathlon
Entry fees: I freaked out paying $40 for my first Westchester Triathlon. To put things in perspective, most running races were $7-$10 each. The 1982 NYC Marathon entry fee was $25. Now I don’t think twice about paying $400 to compete in World Championships.
Wetsuits: My first wetsuit was a Body Glove shortie for surfing. Bright blue and yellow. Wetsuits have evolved and my tastes have changed. ROKA Maverick.
Bikes: I did my first couple of races on a woman’s bike with the slanted down tube. I then got a regular road bike. When aero-bars became a thing I put them on my road bike. I bought my first tri-bike on eBay from a guy in Philadelphia. I met him off exit 7 of the New Jersey Turnpike. My next tri-bike came when I won an $800 voucher towards the purchase of a bike from Aegis. That bike is sitting on my trainer. My newest and probably last tri-bike is a Cervelo P3. The first bike was $100 and they went up from there. We’ll just say my newest bike cost more than my first car.
June 2021
Gary Zuckerman
I am 76 years old (young?) and have always considered myself an athlete, playing various sports my entire life, since before Little League. Almost always team sports-baseball, football, basketball. I was fairly proficient, even being invited to a professional baseball tryout in the days before there was a draft. Later in life I tried golf (true duffer), tennis (better-until I threw by back out on a wicked forehand), skiing (ok-but not exactly Jean Claude Killy).
Several years ago, I found what I really enjoyed: cycling. For hours. And hours. My girlfriend asked me one day “wouldn’t you rather spend 5 hours on a golf course?” I just smiled. And this was after an horrific accident that kept me out for six months. I also swam, in a pool. Not much thought of open water in my head at that time.
I started taking an aqua aerobics class at the gym and became friendly with the instructor. I asked if she could help with my swim form. She did. Tired of being dusted by young guys going up a hill (after all, I was only 72 at the time) I asked her to help me with my cycling.
One day she told me I should do a triathlon. “But I don’t run,” I protested. “then walk and jog,” she said. Pretty soon I was on a triathlon team, training 6 days a week, often at 5:30 A.M. Many of you know that drill. Traveling to races-my first was at Quassy. I have done several since, often finishing on the podium for my age group (after all, how many are there racing at 76, LOL).
A couple of years ago, as the Rye Town Supervisor and President of the Rye Town Beach Commission, I noticed that people were jumping into Rye /Oakland Beach open water at will and without lifeguards present. I determined to change that by starting the Open Water Swim program. For a nominal fee, the program provided guards, both on land and in kayaks, together with buoys marking the swim route. Open Water Swim in a safe environment. Last year we had over 400 participants.
It was there that I met the terrific friends at Rye Tri. Always helpful, more than a sports club. I love the fact that so much of it is for charity: Claire’s Climb, the Westchester Tri, the Polar Plunge. And, of course, adjourning to the Barley Beach House after a good Thursday night swim.
See you all on the beach!
May 2021
Louise Dizon
Each person hits a mid-life crisis at a different point in their lives. For me that was in my late 20’s - all my friends were married, owned a car and property, and already started their families. For me, I was still playing in the sandbox. So to cope with finding purpose in life, I was looking for different activities to try: cycling, roller hockey, indoor and beach volleyball, running, adventure races… Then one day, I read an article about a women’s only triathlon called Danskin. Their platform was based on supporting women’s strengths and awareness on the fight of women’s breast cancer. I was already doing the Susan B Komen and other charity runs in celebration of my 2 aunts who beat out breast cancer. So I signed up for the closest Danskin race right outside of Boston. I thought, “how bad could it be? I already do 2 out of the 3 disciplines”. Living in the city, I joined a triathlon class at Chelsea Piers, hit the pool @ 5:30 AM / 3 mornings a week, ran and cycled the West Side highway after work and weekends. I was set, or so I thought.
I hit the water the morning of July 18, 1999 and had a rude awakening 50 yards into the swim: I can’t see the bottom! Panic set in and it didn’t help that there were all these other women hitting, kicking, and splashing around me. I flipped over and started to backstroke and the kayaks then commenced on chasing me to bring me back onto the course - I felt like an idiot. When I saw that I was the only bike left on the rack, I had mentally quit and sat by myself and cried in transition. My friends were helpless on the sidelines trying to scream across to get me back into the race. Then this random athlete saw me, stopped her race, and talked me off the ledge. She reminded me “why” I was doing this and helped me transition to the bike. I thanked her over and over and I will never forget what she said, “You want to thank me? Stop to help someone else who needs it”.
That moment changed me forever: I stopped worrying about me and started to be mindful of others. Witnessing or participating in helping someone accomplish something that they did not think they could accomplish is unbelievingly gratifying.
Fast forward 10+ years and dozens of races: NYC Marathon, NYC Swims, Balance Bar Hi-Tek adventures, NYRRC races, ½ marathons in Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, and Disney. Then I left the sandbox and became an adult with real responsibilities. What do I do now? Trying to get back into pre-baby health, I joined the Rye YMCA, got myself a personal trainer (Hi Arthur!!!) and joined a Triathlon class - how bad could that be? I had already completed a dozen sprint triathlons. Here is my second awakening - I met Ray Kelly. The reality of how delusional I was sunk in as I was left behind on the outdoor runs and last out of the pool. But I stuck with it, worked hard, and next thing I knew, I was signed up and finished the Sleepy Hollow Tri and had fun!
I joined the RyeTri club at its inception and loved the support and community throughout the years. In 2020 I was blessed to have been asked to participate as a co-captain with Jonathan and Lieven. The support and camaraderie amongst the 3 of us was special and we worked together during a difficult year to deliver some cycling opportunities despite the challenges we faced: from Zwift/Zoom rides to safe outdoor options with as much normalcy as possible. 2019-2020, I faced challenges that I didn’t think I could overcome, but I was fortunate in finding club members that believed, supported and elevated me! Yes, Tim, Wendy, and Al, I am looking at you and our Covid Century Challenge accomplishment!
In my second year as bike co-captain, I am hoping to deliver the same amount of challenges, fun and support with Al and Mark and I look forward to seeing everyone out on the road with us! Let’s all work together to get one another across our finish lines!
Ride on!!!
